B1 - Week 2 Blog Post

Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence is one of the most controversial topics of our current time. The help of AI could help humans in so many ways. In the direction we are going, robots will eventually be able to do just about everything. The tough part is deciding where to draw the line. If robots do everything for us, then what will we do? Will they take all of our jobs? In Ami Amegan's blog post, I learned that jobs such as telemarketing, title examiners, shoe repairers, library technicians, and more have a 100% chance of being taken over by robots. This could put a lot of people out of jobs. In the back of our minds, we are also all scared that the sci fi movies will become true, and evil robots will eventually take over the world. Classmate Catherine Stevens made a great point when she said, "artificial intelligence, if balanced with human touch, is a great thing." I think that as long as AI is balanced with humans, it can help us greatly. At this point, we have absolutely nothing to worry about. As I have grown up, I have heard of so many exaggerated claims about artificial intelligence. An article in The New Yorker explains how AI has "died about four times in five decades because of the hype" and these wild exaggerations were made "often to impress potential investors or funding agencies." Of course we have made such great strides with artificial intelligence, like driverless cars, but we have a long way to go before worrying about taking it too far. 

Computer & Software
As computers and software become more and more complicated and intelligent, the worry for hacking increases. Getting hacked can be a really scary thing. You can have so much of your personal information given to an unknown person and terrible things could happen such as credit card fraud. Some may think if you are in a public area, it isn't smart to connected to wifi because people can hack into your computer. New news shows that even if you don't connect to wifi, you may still be in trouble. Apparently, a hacker can see what you are doing just by "analyzing the low-power electronic signals your laptop emits even when it's not connected to the Internet." Research is currently being performed at the Georgia Institute of Technology to understand how these hackers are able to do what they do. With this information, they can help hardware and software designers develop ways to combat these security leaks. Hacking is something I know I am afraid of for our future and something I definitely will keep tabs on. Luckily, the research has been supported by the National Science Foundation. 


Future
For my topic, I decided to focus on the future of our natural resources. If we continue to use our resources at the rate we are now, we will run out. The BBC source I found provides a graphic of the estimated remaining world supplies of non-renewable resources. It shows the projected year each resource will run out if we continue using it at the current rate. According to the graphic, we will run out of gas by 2047 and copper by 2044. Architectural land will be gone by 2081 and coral reefs will be destroyed by the year 3000. It seems far away but these are time periods our children will most likely still be alive for. Our future looks very dull if we do not try to save our resources and use more renewable resources. There are many easy fixes, especially in the building industry, that can be done to decrease the use of non-renewable resources. This would be substantial due to the fact that buildings account for almost 40% of all the energy use in he U.S. This number is probably similar to many other countries. 

In J Schwakoff's  blog post, I learned about the future of smartphones and tablets. Apparently, they are expected to become obsolete in the not-too-distant future. This seems interesting but I am not sure  if I believe it. Maybe in the beyond future but today they seem to dictate so much of our lives. What is crazy, though, is that things we wear have already become "smart" and started to take the place of phones and tablets. For example, google glasses can be worn and complete many of the tasks if not more than smartphones and tablets today. I am excited but nervous to see what the future holds for us all...

Gary Marcus. "Hyping Artificial Intelligence, Yet Again." The New Yorker. 31 December 2013. <http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/hyping-artificial-intelligence-yet-again>

"Global resources stock check." BBC News. 30 August 2012. 
<http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120618-global-resources-stock-check>.

Georgia Institute of Technology. "Researchers work to counter a new class of coffee shop hackers." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 8 January 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150108083708.htm>.